Thursday, February 27, 2014

This is more like it ...

The office of State Sen. Ira Silverstein forwarded me a link to Illinois Senate Bill 2689:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly (that) Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by adding Division 3-20 as follows:

Sec. 3-20001. Elected county officers. No person elected under this Article shall be eligible to hold office if he or she is a convicted felon.

It's been languishing in the Assignments committee with no co-sponsors since being introduced a month ago, and even I feel it's a bit too harsh. For felonies that don't involve political corruption I'd impose a rehabilitation timetable -- restoring eligibility to run for office five years after completion of the sentence, say.

Posted at 12:51:43 PM

Comments

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Way overbroad.

Under this law, the 19-year-old who got caught going to bars with a fake I.D. can't run for office when he's 40.

Is that really a felony though? I got busted underage too but it wasn't a felony and has since been expunged...

If it is though, I agree it shouldn't preclude holding office... This seems a little to broad and should probably be limited to crimes involving the misuse of public trust, not something as minor as underage drinking... By that standard our last three presidents would be precluded for their drinking and pot smoking as youth...

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